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Hockey Chat: We’ve seen it at every level. From the pee-wee’s up through the professionals. As much as skaters on the same team try to move fluently and work together, there is always some moment in some games where two guys on the same team cross paths and trip each other up. The lack of proper communication or the way they communicated caused them to run into each other. One misjudged the other and they both wound up in the same space and down on the ice.
Why is asking so hard for some of us? Whether it’s for a ride to the airport, a few dollars for lunch, or financial support for FCA camp, many of us avoid asking for things we or others need.
Of course, there are times when even the most self-sufficient among us is willing to swallow our pride and plead before “the throne of grace.” I have personally witnessed the humbling of coaches, players, and fans when difficult circumstances turned them into fervent prayer warriors. Sometimes the difficulty is momentary, such as during a game when the team is down by a point with a few ticks left on the clock and the least-talented shooter is on the free-throw line. Who among us hasn’t uttered a prayer in times like these?
Coach Sleepy Thompson was one of those coaches that everyone wanted to play for. He not only knew how to win football games, but also how to develop young men. As my high school football coach, I remember him as an encourager—a coach that instilled life into his players. We walked a little taller as a result of his living out one of his favorite sayings, “Accentuate the positive.” A day would not go by without Coach Thompson reminding us of that principle. It was short and sweet and yielded powerful results. He stressed accentuating the positive at every practice and made it an essential characteristic of our team. He focused on the good in players instead of the bad; the future instead of the past. His words gave us purpose and meaning.
Hockey Chat: After being picked up in an NHL draft, many players spend time in the minor leagues. It is there that they work hard to prove themselves worthy of moving up to the major league team. When they are called up, they are given a little bit of ice time. Then a bit more as they continue to prove themselves. It’s a matter of earning their ice time and spot in the NHL by proving themselves in the lesser leagues.
After watching Texas quarterback Colt McCoy succeed for four years, not many would have predicted that his college career would end this way. Four years of preparation and hard work. (Five, if you count his time as a redshirt.) Four years of sacrifice and dedication. Four years of hoping and dreaming of hoisting the ultimate trophy. All of it came to one last shot at the national title. By the fifth play of the game, it was over. McCoy went down with a shoulder injury that took him out of the game he’d waited so long to play.
Big Red was a hot head. He was a part of the team, but wanted nothing to do with team activities. He was selfish and arrogant, and he made life miserable for his coach. All in all, he was the most difficult player on the team to work with. And his twin brother Jake? He was as deceptive as his brother was angry. The combination of the two boys wore their coach out.
Sound familiar? Isaac’s sons Esau and Jacob were definitely unique. Esau was the hunter and outdoorsman who wanted nothing to do with his father’s God. Jacob was the mama’s boy who would do anything to gain his father’s love. Here is their distinguished list of “dis”:
Hockey Chat: There is a term in hockey known as being “back on your heels”. It means to be playing lazily and timidly. Hockey is not a game for the weak hearted because it takes desire to want the puck, strength to work and win board battles, and clear mindedness to know the right plays to make.
Hockey Chat: Goal judges were first used around 1877 in Montreal and stood right behind the goal (a brutal job for someone with no pads). Years later, they sat in elevated cages behind the glass and when they would see the puck cross the line, they’d turn on the bright red goal light to signal to everyone that a goal has been scored. The red light is a hockey icon now being a symbol of scoring a goal.
A recent response to the gospel illustrates how coaching in the inner city blesses me. While waiting with my junior varsity basketball team for an evening game, I sat on a shiny gym floor and leaned against its closed wooden bleachers. A girl from the track team, who had been attending our Fellowship of Christian Athletes meetings, came and sat next me.
Hockey Chat: There is a technique play in hockey know as “cycling”. It’s a matter of one guy skating with the puck then passing it off to another player, moving the puck in the same way while the first guy takes the second guy’s position. Sounds confusing? It’s much harder to defend than to understand. The premise is to skate until you get in trouble and then pass the puck back. When that guy skates and gets in trouble, you’ll have skated back to be open so he can pass it to you. The constant helping out the guy in trouble becomes a “cycle” that draws the defense and helps keep control of the puck.
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